The TungShin Hospital Incident on 9th July 2011

The sanctity of hospitals should be respected at all times including during times of disturbance and unrest.

We do understand that this is indeed also the stand of the Malaysian Government all along when hospitals were targeted (accidentally or otherwise) in other incidents in other parts of the world. This is indeed one of the international benchmarks of civil societies. What the eleven doctors were doing was to re-affirm our consistent support for this stand which is consistent with the moral stand of our Government in this issue.

It is also part and parcel of the moral duty of the medical profession (ie. all doctors) to point out to those who have accidentally or otherwise violated the sanctity of the hospital during the times when frayed tempers and uncontrolled actions may have been driven by circumstances of the moment.

Such action by concerned doctors must be accepted in good faith as it is their duty to ensure that innocent patients under treatment must not be exposed to unnecessary harm or danger. Not to do otherwise will be a dereliction of their professional duty.

The Federation certainly supports the action of these eleven senior doctors as they are voicing out their outrage and concern when patients’ lives are put in danger. We are certain that all doctors, both in public and private practice would also feel the same when the sanctity of their hospitals and patients under their care are similarly affected.

As wisdom in hindsight, the area where the hospital is located should have been effectively cordoned off way ahead so as to prevent any spillage of the activities of the day into its compound. We are certain that such responsible pre-emptive measures would have the full support of all rakyat including the doctors practicing in that hospital as it would certainly have prevented the unfortunate and ugly scenes on the afternoon of July 9th at the TungShin Hospital.

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